uumuxfandomcom-20200214-history
2010-08-15: Running in to Old (Dead) Friends
Summary: Barbara Gordon goes to get a cup of coffee. She sees an "old friend" and is understandably shaken. Then runs into Dick's ex. Stephanie witnesses much awkward. Location: '''Gotham City, Chelsea, specifically '''Participants: Barbara Gordon (Oracle), Jason Todd (Red Hood), Stephanie Brown (Spoiler), Koriand'r (Starfire) Rating: PG It must be a blue moon, since Barbara Gordon is actually out of the Geek Cave and in the sun, running a few errands before the shops close (early, being Sunday and all). There's a bag attached to the back of her wheelchair, a backpack of sorts, filled with a few essentials that she had to run out to pick up. She's decided to make a quick detour into Chelsea, in order to stop at a coffee shop she used to frequent (probably a little too often) during her days at Gotham U. It's about a block down from where she is right now, waiting patiently for a light to change so she can cross the street. At the moment, she appears to be in a good mood. A nice, bright day right? And so many people out and shopping. It's almost hypocritical of people to avoid some of their problems with the spending of money they don't have. It's almost funny. However, it is near Gotham U, so certain sights aren't out of the ordinary. Such as a young man wearing a jacket with a red hoodie top covering as much of his face as possible. Oh, what are the odds Jason would see anyone he knows? But still, better safe than sorry...and besides... planning some revenge against a city does make one thirsty, so Jason Todd is heading down to a nice little coffee shop. Ahh, coffee and Gotham U. Those are definitely two things that would bring a particular pony-tailed blonde to this particular area. She'd probably look like a Hot Topic employee if it wasn't for the Coffeebucks apron... so a safe assumption Stephanie would be a student, working her way through college. When Babs gets closer to the shop, and spots the man in the red hoodie, she can't help but study him for a few moments. She stops in order to push the button to open the door automatically, so she can wheel herself in, but doesn't take her eyes off him for very long. Something about his stance... the way he moves. What exactly is it about him that's got her feeling so spooked out? He's wearing a hoodie in this heat, which can only mean he doesn't want his face seen. Maybe someone on her dad's Most Wanted wall? No, that wouldn't explain why his /stance/ is familiar to her. She's at a slight advantage as she moves towards the counter. People who want their faces overlooked tend to look /down/, which is just the perfect angle for her to see! Oh yes, but most of those people who don't want to see also don't seem to pay -too- much attention to their surroundings. Especially to certain..familiar..individuals. A bit of a shift of his stance allows the face to still be mostly hidden as Jason leans over the counter to the hot topic employee slash barista takin orders. He tries to speak quietly, and even perhaps there is a slight change in his voice tone as he orders. "Large Black Coffee..." He even drops a ten into whatever tip jar is up there as he pays for his drink, and slips out of line to move to a nice and shady spot..preferably away from the wheelchair bound individual. Having been distracted from drumming black-patent fingernails to handle her orders, Steph's eyes narrow just a fraction, as if studying the current array of customers and committing little bits memory. But all she says is, "Next?" and tosses on a natural smirk. That voice... Barbara kind of freezes in place, looking like she's... well. Seen a ghost. "Jason?" she blurts out. It can't be... it's not possible. It has to be a co-incidence. Or a shapeshifter playing a cruel joke! She pales a little (which, given her status as a natural redhead, makes her... very pale). Hey look. Coffee's done. The cup is taken over at whatever pickup window and the hooded person begins to walk out.... sort of. He does stop at someone saying a name, and turns just enough to look at the woman in the wheelchair. He's good at hiding with the hood, whoever he is...as most of his face is still hidden. But he does smirk as he takes a sip. "Sorry Red. You got the wrong guy, I'm no one special." And he begins to move to the door, shifting among the incoming crowd towards the door. The blonde steps back from the front counter, allowing her shift partner to take over while she moves in make it look like she's restocking the bakery display. Stephanie is keeping a careful watch over the exchange until the redhead's sudden pallor at which point she approaches quietly, eyeing Jason as she addresses Barbara. "Hey, everything okay?" "I... yeah, I'm okay. Just thought I saw someone," she says, a little shakily. With the rate her pulse is going right now, caffeine may not be the best idea. Or at least, not coffee, anyway. "Can I get a large green tea, please?" Tea is relaxing, and she could definitely use that right now. "And one of those cheesecake brownies." If ever there was a time for chocolate... And while he could make his escape...nah. The man in the Red Hood, this 'Jason' stops just near the door first. There's somethign ever so satisfying about having a plan and seeing it go into motion. So a casual sip of his coffee is taken as he leans near the door frame, watching the barista take care of the very shaky and panicky red head. "Sure thing," Steph nods to Barbara, casts another look at the door, the man, and returns to the grind behind the counter. While she's grabbing the tea and the fixings for the brownie, a slip of paper falls onto the floor from next to the tip jar. After the order is arranged and handed over, Stephanie leans over snags it before someone can step on it. "Huh." She turns it over, and her eyes widen. "It's a note... Looks like it's your lucky day, ma'am. Whoever that guy was, he paid enough for your order." That... doesn't seem to help Barbara a whole lot when it comes to her apparent spooked-ness. "Could I see the note?" she asks, somehow managing to /not/ try to reach up to the counter to grab it out of the poor girl's hands. Her eyes trailing to the door, Stephanie just shrugs and slides the note across the counter. The thoughtful look that crosses her face is followed quickly by a half-smirk. "Decently built. Maybe he's a secret admirer?" At least it's an attempt to give Barbara a more positive avenue to consider. Admirer is slightly better than stalker... The note? It's a simple fair that was attached to a 50. 'Use this to pay for whatever the Red head wants. The rest is your tip, not for the jar.' And then, something different underneath that, as if whoever this man is expected the red head to take it. Under that is something simple, nothing fancy. No words of beauty or poetry. It's just a series of numbers. A short series...a badge number even, that Babs is sure to recognize, Jim Gordon's badge number. And once she's had a moment to read that note, the 'man' at the door begins to whistle, and opens the door to head out, baring any suprise entries. Kory did not wish to spook the populace when she could help it. In Gotham, the anti-alien movement might not be as strong as say, in the deep South, but still - flying about willy-nilly was something that she did not wish to do often, to keep up the whole alien-human relations thing. Of course, walking around in something Victoria's Secret would be afraid to sell, while being bright orange wasn't exactly low-key. She was in Gotham not to do any superheroics - Batman likely wouldn't enjoy that sort of thing at all - but to look for something, or someone. A random glance through a coffee shop window as she passed it slowed her tracks. It might not have been exactly who she was looking for, but... perhaps it would be good to meet her, regardless. Towards the door, she moves, reaching out a hand for the doorhandle, when it is opened on the other side. Kory grabs ahold of the door handle, pausing for a moment to blink at the person on the other side, her expression that of slight confusion for a moment, before it turns into a smile. "Going out? I am going in." she says, friendly enough. And the man in the Red hood was leaving, yes. And then he got stopped by...well. There are so many polite and impolite things to refer to Kori by, if you believed some people. "Wow. Deja Vu." Oh yes, he had waited a bit to see her reaction, but hadn't expected to have a secondary 'fun' reaction to her. "Yes. I was just leaving." And the man shifts a bit so as to avoid Kori possibly..well..seeing his face very well, and after a quick step around her..the red hood starts to travel out into the crowd..before it vanishes into a group, tucked away and becoming just another dark mess of hair in a crowd. Another familiar voice (as Oracle, she's talked to... just about everyone, at one point or another, though her own voice is almost always disguised) causes Barbara to look up from her shaking hands, to see the Jason look-a-like gone, and someone else entering. Joy. She gives Stephanie a generous tip herself, and moves away from the counter. She puts on her best polite smile, and nods to the alien girl. "Kory Anders?" she addresses her from a table near the door. "I'm Barbara Gordon, a friend of Dick's." The world just loves Miss Gordon today. Ding. Barbara Gordon. /That's/ why she looked so familiar! And a red letter day for Steph, herself, with two big tippers. "Good luck with finding your mystery man, Miss Gordon. He's pretty hot," she calls as she passes the counter, heading to the back of the store while untying her apron. Yes indeed... a /very/ interesting day. Kory turns her eyes to watch after the man in the red hood, pursing her lips a bit. Kori's features suggested that she found that reaction unusual, and with the furrowed brow and thoughtful gaze remaining on her features, she steps inside, only to be greeted by... "Yes? I am Kory," she says, turning her eyes upon Barbara, trying to place her. ".../oh/, you know Dick as well?" she says, stepping around to the table, her eyes glancing towards Barbara's wheelchair, for the briefest of moments, "I was actually here to look for him, but he can be difficult to find, even when he wants to be found. How are you?" "We go back quite a bit," says Barbara, nodding, then laughs- and actually manages a genuine smile, despite the preceeding weirdness, even if she does appear to be a slightly distracted. "And tell me about it. He's never one to stay in one place for very long, is he?" She sets the note down in front of her on the table, trying not to look at it too intently. She can run it through a handwriting analysis program when she gets home. And she needs some time to try and calm down before navigating the streets of Gotham, just yet. There was a bit of hesitance to Kory's tone after the alien observes Barbara for a moment, Starfire picking up a hand to set on the back of the chair opposite Babs. Regardless, she perks up at first, "Oh, you've known him for a while? I have only known him a few years." she says, still wracking her mind. He /must/ have mentioned her at some point, then, and she had forgotten it. "Do you mind if I...?" she asks, her eyes glancing down towards the note. "Is everything alright?" "Oh, go ahead, any friend of Dick's," she says, nodding to the chair. "Yeah, sorry, just kinda... ran into someone I wasn't expecting to." Yeah, that's one way to put it. She really doesn't know what to think of the whole thing. "Or at least someone who looked like them." She folds up the paper and tucks it into the bag she has attached to her chair. Taking her seat, Kory folds her arms on the table before herself, a look of concern obvious on her features. "It wasn't the person that had just left, was it?" she asks, glancing towards the window as if to hope to catch a fleeting glance of Jason dashing away. Pursing her lips, she glances back down towards Barbara - this was a bit awkward, "If you need help at all..." she ventures, "I would be happy to do so, for a friend of a friend." Barbara nods. "Yeah. He looked quite a bit like... someone who isn't around anymore," she confirms. Yeah, the awkwardness is most definitely felt on both ends here. "I think maybe it was just a weird co-incidence." Hopefully. She'll need to talk to Bruce next chance she gets. Koriand'r brings up a hand, stealing a lock and wrapping it around her forefinger, her glowing eyes glancing out of the window. "I hope so..." she says, her voice trailing off. "So... how do you know Dick?" she asks somewhat directly, turning her eyes back towards Barbara proper. "Oh, my father is Jim Gordon, the police commisioner. I met Dick when Mr. Wayne brought him to a GCPD fundraiser, when we were younger." Technically... sort of true. In a way. Kind of. She leaves out the part with Killer Moth and her dad not technically knowing she was there. "Mostly we'd run into each other at those sort of things, were we the only people our age." Koriand'r nods her head in what she considered the appropriate points in what Barbara says. "I've only known him a few years," she offers, before adding, "It sounds as though you two were close." she says, dropping both her hands to her lap, as she folds one leg over the other for modesty. She kept taking glances through the window, hoping to catch another sight of this red hood guy. Why? Kory's intent was just to question him. At least at first. "I guess you could say that," says Barbara. "And he's mentioned you once or twice. The way he talked about you, I'm guessing you are as well," she says, trying not to sound /too/ awkward. Awkward seems to be a theme for today, though. She looks down at her half-finished tea and brownie, and puts the latter back into the little paper bag it came in, folding the paper to create a loose seal so she can put it in her bag. "I think I should probably get going. There's a couple of things I need to get done at home. But it was really nice meeting you, Kory." The alien girl does seem really nice. "Hopefully we'll get a chance to talk more soon." It was... awkward. That red hooded man was bothering Barbara somehow, and the explanation was a little inadequate. "We have been close... but things are different now," Kory says, her expression pinching somewhat. "We're very good friends still, however - so it was nice to meet another good friend of his, Barbara," Kory says with a smile, already using the moment to both unfold her legs, and rise up to a stand. Barbara seemed nice, too, but Kory had the feeling that now wasn't the best time to be taking her first impressions of the other woman. "Would you like to set a date? I have a communicator that you can call using a regular cell phone, um..." she says, glancing down towards herself. "...that I forgot." The perils of near non-existent pockets. Nonetheless, Kory can recite her mobile number, and does so. Barbara Gordon jots down the number, even if she has the ability to tap into that communicator nonetheless. "Alright, if anything we can trade embarassing stories about our friend in common," she says, and manages another friendly, genuine smile. Or as close as she can get in this particular situation. Once she has everything packed into her bag and ready to go, she heads out. Later, Nightwing just might get a tip from a certain mysterious source that Starfire is looking for him. Category:Logs